Candy Cane Striped Cake

Learn how to make pretty candy cane stripes on a cake. It’s super-easy to do and is a fun and pretty way to decorate a dessert for the holidays.

A couple of years ago I was asked to whip up a dessert for a friend’s last-minute get-together. I had a cake mix on hand and not much else. As the cake cooked I looked around and brainstormed and eventually came up with this idea of a quick fun holiday cake decoration: Candy Cane Striped Cake.

How To Create A Candy Cane Striped Cake

Step #1

Make a chocolate cake from a cake mix or from any recipe you’d like. I used a cake mix and baked it in a 9×13 inch cake pan. Let it cool completely.

Step #2

Ice the cake. For the pictures here I made whipped cream out of 2 cups of whipping cream and 4 tablespoons of icing sugar. I like the whipped cream because it gives that droopy fluffy snow effect.

Step #3

Break up 5 or 6 candy canes into pieces. Then put the pieces into a mortar and pestle and smash until it’s partly dust and partly tiny pieces. You can instead crush the canes by putting them into a zip-top bag and smashing them with a rolling pin but I find that the bits of candy cane are sharp and puncture tiny holes in the bag. I don’t think any plastic gets into the mix but you do end up with candy dust on your counter.

Step #4

Cut out a bunch of 1/2 inch thick strips of paper. A heavier paper, like index weight, works best. You’ll need about 15 strips for a 9×13-inch cake.

Step #5

Lay a strip of paper diagonally across the middle of the cake, so that it goes from one corner to the other. You may need two strips, overlapping at the center of the cake, to get all the way across the cake. Working from that middle strip toward a corner, lay strips of paper on the cake leaving a 1/2 inch gap between strips. Use a ruler to evenly place the strips. Press the strips down lightly so that they stick to the whipped cream. Repeat working from the middle strip towards the other corner.

Step #6

Sprinkle the cake with the candy cane crumbs. I like a fine dusting but you can put as much or as little as you’d like.

Step #7

Starting at a corner of the cake, gently grasp two ends of a strip of paper and lift it up and off the cake. Discard. If any bits of candy fall off the paper and onto what is supposed to be an undusted white stripe, use a small spoon to remove it or to nudge it over to a dusted area. Remove all the strips of paper in this way until they are all off of the cake.

If you have any candy cane dust left, sprinkle it around the edge of the cake plate. It looks pretty there.

Refrigerate the cake until serving. It will be fine for 3 hours in the fridge.

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This post originally appeared in December 2012 and was revised and republished December 2016.